No ‘glow up’ needed
Dr. Gunter’s tweets tapped into collective anger over the shaming of women’s bodies. The OMV! marketing suggested that teens could get a “glow up” with the products.
“Your vulva doesn’t need a ‘glow up.’ It’s fine like it is. And if it’s not, talk to your doctor,” Dr. Jones said in her Feb. 8 video, which has had almost 350,000 views, with 28,000 likes and only 149 dislikes.
“They’re very clearly pathologizing normal physiology,” Dr. Jones says. “They’re creating language that makes people feel as though their normal bodily functions have to be somehow fixed or changed.”
Dr. Gunter says she specifically wanted to prevent Vagisil from leveraging social media to influence teen girls. With her stream of tweets and support from colleagues around the country, she has sparked a prolonged online conversation.
“I am encouraged by the strong response on social media from both other enraged ob.gyns. and health care professionals as well the response from a lot of women and men,” Dr. Gunter said in an interview. “We have effectively blocked [Vagisil] from using social media.”
In its response to this news organization, Vagisil noted, “We are a brand run by women with daughters of our own.” While defending the products, Vagisil acknowledged the criticisms: “We are always listening to our consumers and our expert partners so that we continuously evolve. We appreciate the perspective that our language choice surrounding periods may perpetuate an old idea and have already begun to make changes to address this.”
Dr. Gunter says she plans to stay on topic. “Given the number of people outraged, I suspect if they venture out on social media again the reaction will be swift,” she said. “Hopefully we have made OMV! toxic for influencers as well.”
In fact, she’s ready to take on “the entire predatory feminine hygiene market. I’m sick of their false claims about balancing pH and not-so-subtle suggestions that vaginas and vulvas and menstruation stink. These products cause psychological harm as well as physical harm from their irritants,” she said.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.